Lamp socket

ABSTRACT

The socket is releasably supported at the rear face of a lamp housing with a socket sleeve containing bayonet recesses for orienting the filament of the lamp therein with the socket oriented on the housing and sealed thereto.

United States Patent Don L. De Lano Mount Clements, Mich.

June 17, 1970 Dec. 7, i971 Vare Corporation New York, N.Y.

Continuation of application Ser. No. 748,858, July 30, 1968. Thisapplication June 17, 1970, Ser. No. 48,913

inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee LAMP SOCKET 3 Claims, 8Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl

int. Cl. Field of Search References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ThomasChurchill Summerer....

Heller Mouat... De1ano.....

Fitzgerald..... De Lano Primary Examiner-Richard E. MooreAttorney-Harness, Dickey & Pierce ABSTRACT: The socket is releasablysupported at the rear face of a lamp housing with a socket sleevecontaining bayonet recesses for orienting the filament of the lamptherein with the socket oriented on the housing and sealed thereto.

PATENTEDDEE mm 31626359 SHEET 2 [IF 2 INVENTOR.

LAMP SOCKET CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 748,858, filed July 30, 1968. Asomewhat similar socket is claimed in the inventor's copendingapplication, Ser. No. 753,409, filed Aug. 16, 1968, now U.S. Pat. No.3,518,619, for Lamp Socket" which was assigned to the assignee of thepresent invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of the invention is that for lampsockets for automobiles, particularly to a lamp socket which may beremoved from the rear of the lamp housing and so sealed thereto that itcan be located in the wheel wash area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The lamp socket of the present invention isreceived in an aperture at the rear of a lamp housing which containspositioning notches herein illustrated as three in number which orientthe socket relative to the housing by having the notches offset relativeto each other with at least one notch of shorter length. The socket hasalamp-receiving sleeve which is flanged outwardly at the top andreversely rolled at the ends over the prongs of a spring washer whichcontains projecting, locating and attaching fingers. A ring ofelastomeric material is bonded to the reversely bent portion forengaging the rear face of the lamp socket about the receiving aperturefor sealing the socket thereto when supported thereon. The socket sleevecontains a spring-pressed washer having a tab extending into a slot inthe sleeve which orients the washer and the contacts thereon relative tothe contacts of the lamp. The conductor is sealed within a sleeve whichextends over and is bonded to the bottom of the socket sleeve so thatthe socket is completely sealed to the body of the conductor carryingthe wires and to the lamp housing to prevent the entrance of moistureeven to the wheel wash of the automobile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of asocket attached to a lamp housing, a portion of which is shown insection;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, asviewed from point 2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2, takenon the line 3-3 thereof;

FIG. 4 is a broken sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG.2, taken on the line 4-4 thereof;

FIG. 5 is a broken sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG.2, taken on the line 55 thereof;

FIG. 6 is a broken view of structure, similar to that illustrated inFIG. 2, showing another form of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 6, takenon the line 7-7 thereof, and

FIG. 8 is a broken sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG.6, taken on the lines 8-8 thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, itwill be noted that a lamp housing 11 is made of plastic material havinga central aperture 12 communicating with outwardly extending notches 13,14 and 15. Stop projections 16, 17 and 18 extend inwardly from the edgeof the aperture 12. A socket 21 is removably attachable to the housing11 and so constructed as to accurately locate the filament of the lampat a desired position therewithin. The socket has a socket sleeve 22provided with diametrically located bayonet recesses 23 by the outwarddeformation of the material of the wall of the sleeve. Midway betweenthe bayonet recesses 23 a recess 24 is provided for receiving anextending nib 25 of an insulating disc 26 which carries contacts 27accurately oriented thereon. An inwardly directed flange 28 at thebottom of the sleeve 22 supports one end of a spring 29, the other endof which engages the disc 26 and is located relative thereto by ashouldered extension 31. The

spring maintains the contacts 27 in firm fixed relation to the contacts32 of the lamp.

The upper end of the sleeve 22 contains an outwardly extending flange 33which has its end reversely bent at 34 over spaced tabs of a springwasher 35. The outer periphery of the washer 35 is lanced andpositioning fingers 36, 37 and 38 are bent upwardly therefrom and slopedinwardly at 39 at the top for guiding the fingers into the aperture 12for centering the socket in the housing 11. Between the positioningfingers 36, 37 and 38, fingers 40 are bent upwardly and flangedoutwardly to form clamping and locking members 41, 42 and 43 which haveclamping sections 44 and locking sections 45, the latter being producedby a slot 46 in the flanges. The clamping section 44 has the forward end47 bent upwardly to form a ramp for riding over the material of thehousing at the notches 13, 14 and 15. The locking sections 45 are ofconcave shape as illustrated in FIG. 5, to engage an arcuate recess 48in rear of the stop projections 16, 17 and 18 when the forward ends 47of the clamping sections 44 are in engagement therewith.

The member 41 is located substantially 1 15 from member 42, which islocated substantially from member 43 to correspond with the location ofthe slots 15, 13 and 14 from each other. It will be further noted thatthe slot 13 is of shorter length conforming to the shorter length of thelocking member 42. With this arrangement, the socket 21 is accuratelyoriented relative to the lamp housing 11 after being inserted in theaperture 12 and rotated until the forward ends 47 of the stop projectionabut the projections 16, 17 and 18. The forward ends 47 of the clampingsections 44 raises the sections onto the inner surface of the lamphousing 11 between the slots and the projections, causing the springwasher to be deflected upwardly an amount depending upon the thicknessof the wall of the housing which may vary substantially. The lockingsections 45 of the clamping members 41, 42 and 43 are defiectable actingas leaf springs to also allow for variation in panel thickness. Thetension provided by the spring washer 35 and the locking sections 45compresses an elastomeric sealing ring 4Q which is bonded to thereversely bent portion 34 of the flange 33 to thereby seal the socket 21to the rear face of the housing 11 irrespective of the wall thicknessthereof. The socket 21 is retained in stop position relative to thehousing by the tension of the arcuate portions of the locking sections45 by the friction of the elastomeric material of the sealing ring 49.

A sealing sleeve 51 has an enlarged end portion 52 which extends overand is bonded to the bottom portion of the sleeve 22 which has a taperedextending portion 53 which is stretched over a body 54 containingconductors 55 which pass through the disc 26 in conducting engagementwith the contacts 27. The sleeve 51 is preferably heat sealed to thebody 54 of the conductors 55 to provide positive sealing against theentrance of moisture. In this manner the conduit end of the sleeve 22 issealed against the entrance of moisture while the lamp end is sealed bythe elastomeric ring 49 when in engagement with the rear face of thehousing 11. By rotating the socket 21 counterclockwise, the members 41,42 and 43 will be located adjacent to the respective slots 15, 13 and 14permitting the socket 21 to be removed from the lamp housing 11.Similarly, by inserting the respective members 41, 42 and 43 in therespective notches l5, l3 and 14 and by turning the socket 21 clockwiseuntil stop position is reached, the socket 21 will be locked in orientedposition within the housing 11.

In FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 a slightly modified form of construction isillustrated that wherein a lamp housing 61 is formed of metal instead ofthe plastic material employed in the housing 11 of the above-describedFIGS. With this arrangement the rear face of the lamp housing isprovided with the socketreceiving aperture 12 above described, and withthe notches 13, 14 and 15. In place of the stop projections 16, 17 andI8, flanges 62 are bent from the rear wall of the lamp housing 61inwardly from the aperture 12. The forward ends 47 of the members 41, 42and 43 strike the flanges 62 in the same manner as they struck the stopprojections in the aforementioned FIGS. In place of the recesses 48,depressions 63 are stamped into the inner face of the metal of thehousing 61 outwardly of the aperture 12 for receiving the lockingsection 45 of the members. The length of the upstanding fingers 40 ofthe spring washer 35 is shortened so as to conform to the thinner metalof the housing 61 when drawing the socket 21 against the outer facethereof to compress the sealing ring 49 and form a seal against the rearface of the housing. Otherwise, the structure is the same as that abovedescribed with regard to FIGS. 1 to 5.

lclaim:

1. In a lamp socket for acceptance in a complementary aperture in thewall of a lamp housing, the improvement comprising a cylindrical sleevehaving a radially outwardly extending flange at one end thereof, aspring washer secured in juxtaposed relation to the flange of saidsleeve, said spring washer having a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced, axially extending guide fingers for engaging the edge face ofthe aperture in the lamp housing, and a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced axially extending locking fingers on said spring washer betweensaid guide fingers, said locking fingers having cantilevered flanges.respectively extending radially outwardly in spaced parallel relation tothe flange on said sleeve so as to be engageable with the wall of thelamp housing on the opposite side thereof from the flange on saidsleeve, one radially extending edge portion of the flanges on saidlocking fingers having an axially and circumferentially extending slopeso as to form a ramp for camming engagement with the wall of the lamphousing thereby to apply an axial bias to said sleeve upon rotation ofsaid socket relative to the lamp housing.

2. A socket as recited in claim 1, wherein the cantilevered flanges onsaid locking fingers are provided with a detent engageable with a recesson the inner face of the lamp housing upon a predetermined relativerotation between said socket and housing.

3. A socket as recited in claim 2, wherein the detent on saidcantilevered flange is disposed on a cantilevered circumferentiallyextending portion thereof.

1. In a lamp socket for acceptance in a complementary aperture in thewall of a lamp housing, the improvement comprising a cylindrical sleevehaving a radially outwardly extending flange at one end thereof, aspring washer secured in juxtaposed relation to the flange of saidsleeve, said spring washer having a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced, axially extending guide fingers for engaging the edge face ofthe aperture in the lamp housing, and a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced axially extending locking fingers on said spring washer betweensaid guide fingers, said locking fingers having cantilevered flanges,respectively, extending radially outwardly in spaced parallel relationto the flange on said sleeve so as to be engageable with the wall of thelamp housing on the opposite side thereof from the flange on saidsleeve, one radially extending edge portion of the flanges on saidlocking fingers having an axially and circumferentially extending slopeso as to form a ramp for camming engagement with the wall of the lamphousing thereby to apply an axial bias to said sleeve upon rotation ofsaid socket relative to the lamp housing.
 2. A socket as recited inclaim 1, wherein the cantilevered flanges on said locking fingers areprovided with a detent engageable with a recess on the inner face of thelamp housing upon a predetermined relative rotation between said socketand housing.
 3. A socket as recited in claim 2, wherein the detent onsaid cantilevered flange is disposed on a cantilevered circumferentiallyextending portion thereof.